**2. Ilarion Ilarionovich Shafranovskii (1907-1994)**

6 Recent Advances in Crystallography

**Figure 2.** I. I. Shafranovskii age ~ 50.

biographical information about pioneers.

Groth (1843-1927) published *Entwicklungsgeschichte der mineralogischen Wissenschaften* in 1926. As the founder of the journal *Zeitschrift für Krystallographie*, the author of the collection of crystallographic knowledge *Chemische Kristallographie* (1906-1919), and the source of the crystals that von Laue used for the discovery of X-ray diffraction, his place in the crystallographic firmament is assured. However, according to Shafranovskii, "Despite the prominence of the author, unfortunately the presentation of material [in his history] is sketchy. The review of the second half of the 19th Century is too brief and fragmented for a balanced narrative." Also falling short, according to Shafranovskii, was the Austrian mineralogist Tertsch, whose popular history, *Secrets of the Crystal World. A Romance of Science*

Naturally, Shafranovskii gave special attention to the Russian literature. Terniaev's (1767- 1827) history of mineralogy predated (1819) Marx's comparable work, with a stronger focus on recent events, especially emphasizing the contributions of Haüy (1743-1822). Vernadsky's (1863-1945) *Foundations of Crystallography* (1904) contains a splendid introduction to the history of crystallograpy. He gives affectionate portraits of giants such as Kepler (1571-1630), Steno (1638-1686), Romé de l'Lisle, Haüy (1736-1790), and Bravias (1811-1863), but also acknowledges lesser heroes such as Bernhardi (1770-1850), who helped to conceive the crystallographic systems, and Grassmann Sr. (1779-1852) who developed the stereographic projection, among others. Lemmlein (1901-1962), a specialist in mineral genesis, treated crystallography's past with great respect, especially the work of Lomonosov (Lemmlein, 1940). His brilliant comments to *On Precious Stones* (1989) by the 11th Century Persian scholar Al-Biruni, frame gemology. Shubnikov (1887-1979) posthumously published his brief "Origins of Crystallography" (1972), a popular introduction to the history of crystallography that, like Vernadsky's text, provides

(1947), trumpeted hyperbolic language not justified by its contents.

Ilarion Ilarionovich Shafranovskii (Anonymous, 1957, 1967, 1977, 1987, Figure 2), the son of a mathematician, was born in St. Petersberg. He first studied crystallography with Ansheles (1885 - 1957) at Leningrad University, graduating in 1931. In 1934, Shafranovskii began a professorship at the Leningrad Mining Institute, founded in 1907 by Fedorov (1853-1919), Ansheles' teacher. Shafranovskii received his doctoral degree in 1942 for studying diamond crystals with unusual morphologies. In 1946, he assumed the E. S. Fedorov Chair of Crystallography. Shafranovskii's name is frequently linked that of Federov. Shafranovskii wrote a biography of Fedorov (Shafranovskii, 1963), and in 1970 was awarded the E. S. Fedorov prize of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR for his work on the morphology of crystals and contributions to the history and popularization of crystallography.

Shafranovskii wrote some 500 articles and books. Among his major works are a textbook on crystallography with Popov, *Mineral Crystals* (1957), *Lectures on Crystallomorphology,* translated into English (1973), and *Outlines of Mineralogical Crystallography* (1974). In addition to the histories mentioned in the previous section, Shafranovskii published monographs on Koksharov (1818-1892) (Shafranovskii, 1964), Werner (Shafranovskii, 1968a), and Steno (Shafranovskii, 1972), among others, in addition to Fedorov, already mentioned. He wrote popular accounts of crystallography including *Diamonds* (1964) and *Symmetry in Nature* (1968b) that won the All-Union Knowledge Competition prize for the best popular science book.

In 1982, a mineral was named in Shafranovskii's honor, Shafranovskite, found the mountains of the Kola Peninsula, the eastward-jutting, thumb-shaped landmass atop Finland.
